In May 2018, The Mandrake welcomed British contemporary artist Zoobs Ansari for our Artist-in-Residence programme. Zoobs, who has been living and working between New York and Los Angeles on new material for the last five years, returned to his hometown to start his eight-day residency with us. Guests of The Mandrake had the opportunity to watch Zoobs bring his creative energy by way of planned ‘happenings’, where he photographed and filmed handpicked muses and talent, within various areas of the hotel. Raw footage of these happenings would then be formed into a short film (Hallucination), to be submitted into international film festivals such as TriBeCa, Toronto, Cannes, Berlin, Los Angeles, to name a few.
Zoobs’ global success in the arts blossomed in the UK. His unique mixed media pieces and fine art photographs have been displayed and sold at shows within prestigious institutions and spaces such as the Saatchi Gallery, Guy Hepner Gallery, and the worldwide Opera Galleries. He has created vivid portraits of celebrated icons from rock to royalty, such as Madonna, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and John Lennon. These celebrated pieces are housed exclusively within high end boutiques and hotels such as the Dolce & Gabbana flagship store in Bond Street and The Mandrake Hotel in Fitzrovia, as well as private collections worldwide.
Zoobs engaged with residents and customers of the hotel, to carry out a 5-10 minute photo shoot - guests were able to take the images home as a Mandrake souvenir.